


Mama

by Teethreader



Category: Dream SMP - Fandom, Minecraft (Video Game), Video Blogging RPF
Genre: Angst, Character Study, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Pandora’s box, Puffy Visits Dream, Puffy is Dream’s mom, Rising City on instagram posted a Sheep Dream and here we are, Sheep!Dream, So much angst, man this is pure pain
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-25
Updated: 2021-02-25
Packaged: 2021-03-16 16:07:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,071
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29703105
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Teethreader/pseuds/Teethreader
Summary: Puffy visits Dream, and has to face what he’s become.
Relationships: Cara | CaptainPuffy & Clay | Dream
Comments: 6
Kudos: 100





	Mama

“Do you believe that the prisoner deserves to be locked up?” 

Puffy blinks, coming back into focus. Sam’s face is impassive. Even if he is making some sort of expression, she’d hardly be able to tell behind the heavy gas mask he always wears. His armor clicks with each shift, acutely reminding her of where she is, what she’s here to do. 

“Yes,” She replies. A year ago- hell, even a month ago, she would have answered that question differently. A lot has changed in that span. 

Sam instructs her to empty her pockets. She already has, there isn’t anything she needs to bring to this place. Sam gives her a pat-down, and the tug on her coat is so familiar that she has to suck in a breath to stall the tears that well up. The ‘duckling’ presses against her lips and she swallows the word with a shiver. Sam steps back and gives her the all-clear. Obsidian walls press around her, cold and vice-like. Still, Puffy steels herself and follows him in. She’s been putting this off for far too long. 

Poison aches the same as it has every time she’s been unfortunate enough to experience it. Years of hard work and swinging a sword have made Puffy’s body hard and wiry, yet the venom burning through her skin still knocks her clean off her feet. She hits the ground gasping, clawing at the stone with cracked fingernails. Sam’s netherite-clad hand gently rubs her back while he murmurs comfort to her. It’s hollow, he’s the one who forced her to drink it. Boiling agony twists around every inch of her, devouring her from the inside out. It gradually fades to a tolerable ache, still humming under her skin. Sam hauls her to her feet with professional courtesy. Her hands still tremble as he sends her over. 

How can Dream stand it in here? The heat of the lava pouring on every side is oppressive even when she sheds her coat. Gears click and whirr somewhere far off as the platform shudders and moves. It’s an impressive contraption to be sure, meticulously crafted. Inescapable. 

‘By your own son’s design.’ Puffy reminds herself. She straightens her back and steps off the platform. Sam throws the lever, cutting off the flow of molten rock. Then _he’s_ there, exactly as Puffy remembers him. 

Granted, his straw blonde hair has grown a touch longer, and he’s dressed in an orange prison suit instead of a green hoodie, but his mask is the same, his soft smile is the same. 

Dream sits up slowly, as if unused to the motion, and staggers to his feet. A scarred hand pushes the mask over his head. The gnarled left side of his face is as horrible as she remembers. Blackened by decay and skin stretching with deep set burns. His teeth glimmer where his mouth is torn open. His broken horn is practically rotting off. She stares into his brilliant eyes and Dream meets her gaze. His expression is heart-wrenchingly open. 

“Hey, mama.” 

That’s all it takes. Puffy sobs, broken, and runs into his arms. He feels so much frailer in her grip than before. Prison has taken away the powerful muscles that gave him his intimidating stature. Pain tears through her again as her chest heaves for breath. Dream lets her cry against him, nestling against the white curls of her hair gently, ever so gently. He inhales there, letting out a happy sigh. “I missed you,” It’s scarcely more than a whisper but it _unmakes_ her. Guilt rips open her chest and she pulls away before it grows too much. She has to remember why she’s here, lest she do something she’ll regret. 

With two hasty swipes, she pushes away the tears. Dream simply watches her with a neutral smile, as if he hadn’t just taken her apart and laid her out across the floor with two sentences. “I missed you too, duckling.” She can’t stop the words from spilling out. It’s too much, all of it is. Coming here was a mistake. She’s here now, though, she has to see it through. “How have you been in here?” 

It’s bare in the cell. That was to be expected, but it still shakes her just how isolating this must be. Dream shrugs. 

“It’s fine, really. Look, I have a clock!” He plucks it off the wall and holds it up proudly. Puffy manages a strangled laugh at that. It’s like a child who’s found a shiny rock in the sand. 

“I can see that. Is that all you have in here?” Dream shakes his head and lightly pulls her deeper into the cell. The only other things in there are a chest and a hole of water. She tries not to think about that too hard. “Oh! What’s in there, then?” He drops his mask beside the chest and kneels. 

“Tommy gave me some books, he told me to write in ‘em.” He explains, pulling them out. It’s quite the formidable pile, Puffy represses a laugh as Dream all but falls into the chest to get them all out. “As you can see, he got very enthusiastic.” 

“He does tend to do that, doesn’t he?” Puffy picks up one of the books and thumbs through it. She’s not reading the words, but it helps to keep her hands occupied. “How long have you been in here, Dream?” 

The use of his name makes Dream look up. His brow furrows, as if he can’t make sense of what she’s saying. Puffy’s ear flicks as she fights to keep her face impassive. He relents then, and sits against the chest heavily. 

“About a month or so, I think? I haven’t been counting days, but the clock’s gone around pretty often and Tommy’s visited me more than once.” His expression slips for a moment, and Puffy sees the flash of white as he bares his teeth around ‘Tommy’. It growls out of his chest with the promise of violence and then it’s gone, and he just looks tired again. 

It’s terrifying. He’s terrifying. Puffy drops the book and covers her flutter of panic with a cough. “Has he? Um- are you sure that’s a good idea, duckling? You two aren’t exactly on the best of terms, and I-“ 

“Oh come on.” Puffy’s mouth shuts with a click. Dream is glaring at her with all the malice of a petulant child. “He visits me willingly, I’m not forcing him. Besides, don’t you want me to get better? I’m trying to atone, mama, I am. This is all I have.” 

She should know better than to believe him at face value. In fact, she _does_ know better. This boy- this man- has hurt people. He nearly murdered a child, and directly caused the deaths of several people. Not to mention he ruined Tommy’s life! Everything he’s done was out of malice and selfishness and simply cruelty and yet- 

“I’m sorry I didn’t visit sooner,” She says. And yet she’s not strong enough. He’s still her boy. Dream will always be her son. She drops to her knees as well and settles to face him. The delighted smile he sends her way makes her weakness worth it. “You said you’re atoning? Tell me about that. Tell me everything, I want to hear it.” 

“Making up for lost time, Mama?” Each time he says it the knife digs a bit deeper. She knows he’s doing it intentionally. Maybe this is his way of punishing her. Maybe she deserves it. A beat of silence passes and Dream goes on, “Alright, where to start…” he drops his head against the wall. “After the whole thing with Tommy and the discs, and everyone turning on me, I’ve had a lot of time to think. Y’know, even after everything, Tommy still came to see me a few times. More than anyone else. He’s…” Dream’s hand clenches in the air. 

Puffy breaths out slow. “He’s a good kid.” Whatever Dream was going to say, she isn’t sure she wants to know. 

“Yes,” Dream sighs, “he certainly tries to be. You know, we used to be best friends. You always wanted me to have that, didn’t you?”

She clicks her tongue sharply. “Don’t play that game with me, Dream. Trying to push my emotions around like that. I’m your mother, I know you.” Does she, though? The man sitting beside her doesn’t feel like the Dream she knew. He hasn’t felt that way in a long time. He smiles and the gnarled half of his face crinkles slightly with the movement. 

“You do. Sorry, you’re right. I just… I wish I had been kinder about it. I wish Sapnap didn’t hate me. I wish Tommy was still my friend. I wish I was free. It’s hard to express how that feels, you know?” 

Puffy watches him for a long moment. There’s honesty in his gaze, but her skin still crawls. Dream wears himself as a skin suit, and Puffy feels the writhing, squirming creature that’s underneath. It reaches out to her with cold fingers and interlaces their hands. She squeezes, and Dream squeezes back twice. ‘I love you’ is written in the spaces between his knuckles. 

“But you can’t be.” She finally says. Dream goes tense beside her. “You can’t get out for a long time, Dream. I don’t know if you can ever get out.” The words break her heart even though she knows it’s true. This punishment, horrid as it makes her feel, is deserved. 

Dream draws back from her and it’s all she can do to not wrap him up in a hug and drag him out of his place. She thinks he might like to see the ocean again, to sail with her like they had done a million times before. The scarred, dirt and tear streaked faces of Tommy and Tubbo come to mind. Their arms tangled as they clung to each other in the aftermath of Dream’s defeat. God, they were just kids, all of them were. Puffy twists the promise ring around her finger until it burns. 

“I deserve this, don’t I?” Cold dread freezes her in place. Dream is slumped forward, a bitter smile tugging at his lips. Tears slide down his face and she knows it hurts when they drag a path along ragged decay. “All I wanted was to bring everyone together.” 

“By attacking everyone?” She can’t help the sneer that enters her voice. The excuse is so pathetic that she’s not sure why he even made it. Dream’s smarter than that, at least. But when he nods it’s so genuine and honest that she has to pause. 

Dream hangs his head low. “I thought that… maybe they would work together. It’s just been fighting for so long and I thought that maybe, using Tommy, I could get everyone against one common enemy. And I did, didn’t I? Everyone came together to defend the kids. Even you, my own mom. Wasn’t it kind of incredible in a way?” 

Puffy grabs his collar and he yelps in alarm. “Incredible? Dream you tried to _kill a child!_ There’s nothing incredible about that! You have done nothing but hurt and abuse and destroy people for the past year! How can you lie to my face and say you meant it well?” She’s crying again, and when Dream blinks in shock she has to stifle the wail building in her chest. 

Puffy stands abruptly. Dream’s eyes widen and he scrambles to face her. “What are you doing?” 

“I’m leaving. I-I- I’m sorry, duckling, I can’t do this.” 

“No!” He grabs for her hands and falls forward when she draws away. A hiss of pain escapes him when his palms scrape the rough obsidian floor. Puffy covers her mouth in horror. Dream’s shoulders tremble and jolt with each sob. “Don’t leave me, not yet,” he grabs her blouse so hard the fabric stretches and she’s forced to meet his eyes. The tears have left angry irritation all over the left side of his face. He looks haggard, desperate. Puffy’s hands tremble again. “Please, Mama, I don’t want to be alone. Don’t leave me.” 

Panic clogs her throat and she’s struggling to even think. The creature pulls and her and now it cups her face and presses a tearful kiss to her forehead and it’s cold, so cold- 

“Dream.” 

He stops, still shaking, to look at her. “Mom.” She holds her breath. There’s something old in those eyes. Older than her, older than Dream himself. She holds his cheek and traces the freckles there. He leans into her touch, relieved. Their foreheads touch together, soft and nostalgic. “Thank you.” 

How long they stay like that, she isn’t sure, but Puffy doesn’t dare to move until the heat of lava on her back becomes too much to bear and she has to step away. Dream follows the movement with his head before letting her go. 

“Have you been having the nightmares again?” She doesn’t want to believe it, but the way he’d begged her…

Dream shudders. “Yea. I’m sorry mom. I just can’t- they’ve gotten so _bad.”_ His voice cracks. It’s unfathomable, how alone he must be in here. Dream’s never been caged before. He couldn’t stand restraint- he needed freedom. Puffy had seen it when he would hang off the masts, laughing into the wind. She’d seen it in the heat of battle, his body twisting and weaving effortlessly through masses of swords and crossbows. She sees it now, in the terrified hunch of his shoulders and each twitch of his ear. 

“Shh, I know,” She runs her fingers through his hair. “I’m sorry, duckling, I know.” He crumples against her and buries his head under her chin. The point of his intact horn rests against her shoulder. “How about this,” Carefully, Puffy leads Dream to sit once more. She guides his head to rest on her lap, scarred side down. “I can sing you a lullaby, just like I used to. Would you like that?” And it’s a mistake, this sympathy. She had come here for closure. Still, she was kind to him. Some part of her still sees the duckling who follows her around everywhere. The one who was too shy to even peek around her legs when meeting someone new. Dream nods. 

“Yes please.” 

Puffy takes a deep breath and starts to sing, 

“Sleep my child and peace attend thee,

All through the night

Guardian angels God will send thee,

All through the night

Soft the drowsy hours are creeping,

Hill and dale in slumber sleeping

I my loved ones' watch am keeping,

All through the night”

Dream’s eyes slide shut as he nestles against her. The tension coiled in his shoulders drops. His breathing slows, and whatever being he holds in his chest is soothed. After all that, he’s still scared to sleep alone. Puffy brushes over his hair lovingly. There was a time when she had done the same to a little boy. 

“Mom?” Puffy looks up from where she’s hunched over a map. The candle beside her flickers with the movement. Dream stands in the doorway. He rocks from side to side and picks nervously at the hem of his shirt. 

Puffy smiles softly. “Dream, what are you doing out of bed?” 

“I had a nightmare,” he admits. “I’m sorry- I just don’t want to be alone.” She sighs softly and opens her arms. 

“Again, duckling? Come here, it’s okay, you’re safe.” Dream crawls onto her lap and settles against her chest. She pets over the small nubbed horns, just starting to grow in. He’s so proud whenever they poke over the top of his hair, and the thought makes her laugh. Softly she rocks him back and forth.

“Angels watching, e'er around thee,

All through the night

Midnight slumber close surround thee,

All through the night

Soft the drowsy hours are creeping,

Hill and dale in slumber sleeping

I my loved ones' watch am keeping,

All through the night”

Dream wraps himself up in her coat, his little ears flapping happily. “I love you, mama,” he yawns. Puffy hums as his grip goes slack, and he gently dozes off. 

“I love you too, duckling.” 

She ends up leaving her coat with him, draped over his shoulders. He’s too big for it to work as a blanket anymore. That hardly matters though, as she watches him sleep. Whatever he is now, he isn’t the son she loved. He’s a beast, with claws for nails and the teeth of a wolf. All his softness he’s beaten out, broken and molded it to suit his needs. 

But he still needs his mom when he has nightmares. 

Puffy turns to the wall of lava and calls out. “Sam! I’m ready to leave!” She keeps her gaze resolutely forward, even when Dream starts to stir behind her. 

The cool night is a welcome reprieve from the stifling heat of the prison. Puffy opens her arms and welcomes the wind to push against her. Maybe it can pull the sticky residue of Dream’s tears off her skin. She lets out a half-hysterical laugh. It’ll never leave her, no matter how hard she tries. Dream left his heart behind and Puffy has carried it ever since. It’s as much a part of her as he himself is. 

“Puffy, what are you doing?” Tommy stands in front of her. He’s wearing a suit, done up clumsily and with a sloppy red tie. Clearly he put it on himself. “You’re just standing there all weird-like.” He laughs at her in that wheezy, full-bellied way. 

“Just enjoying the night Tommy. What are you all dressed up for, hm?” He grins proudly. The expression pulls at the scar on his cheek. 

“The Biginnit hotel will be open for business soon! You gotta bring _lots_ of money, and no wives allowed!” Puffy can’t help but laugh. What a childish, ridiculous statement. And yet… 

“I’ll be sure to visit when it opens, kiddo.” She ruffles his hair. “Take care of yourself, goodnight.” She starts to walk away, waving over her shoulder. 

“Goodnight!” He calls after her. What he mutters next is lost to the wind, but she thinks it sounds a bit like ‘mom’. 

Puffy tugs idly at her sleeve and shivers. The heat has faded now, and it’s cold outside. 

Looks like she’s going to need a new coat. 

  
  



End file.
